


I Dissolve

by Megatr0n



Series: Coming Around [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Body Horror, I don't know there's stuff happening, Other, dissolving flesh?, general unhappiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 08:14:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7750153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megatr0n/pseuds/Megatr0n
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel Reyes first wakes up to his new existence and finds it to be more than a little unpleasant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Dissolve

Thirty-sixish hours, a roundabout sort of minutes, something amount of seconds.

He didn’t know exactly how long he had been awake, truly, or alive, is this living? He counted back from when he got out of Angela’s lab and away from her clutches, away from that operating table and the IV that was in his arm, filling him with something that churned his stomach. He panicked, he dissolved, he saw his limbs melt away into smoke and grease, and he fled, running as hard and as far as he could before his lungs burned and his muscles ached, destination entirely unknown, alone somewhere in the middle of Europe.

It took him a day of sneaking around to get clothes, most of that day was spent being incorporeal in some form. The more his anxiety rubbed his nerves raw, the more he couldn’t control himself and the worse it all seemed to get. His limbs would go first, then his body, he could feel his bones dissimilate and his flesh evaporate, the muscle fibers in his body unwinding, his organs vanishing, and then the flood of sensory information that assaulted him. He could taste the grass, smell the wind, hear a bird in a nearby tree and feel gnats buzzing through the smokey thing that made up Gabriel Reyes.

_Nanites_ , she had explained to him when he was jolted awake by a shock that woke up every nerve in his body. _The same technology that I have been working on for years, do you remember? I had used them in conjunction my biotic tech in the past, and they worked marvelously._ But she was frowning, her tone hadn’t reflected pride but concern, as if there was something wrong and the results she hod gotten weren’t the ones she was expecting. That had made him grow fearful instantly and he reacted on that fear, pulling out the needles and tubes, shoving her aside when she tried to calm him, staggering up then hitting the floor, his body unfamiliar to him, he had tried to stop his face from hitting the floor with his hands, but as soon as flesh impacted the cold linoleum, he lost his form and splashed against the floor in a viscous glob. That terrified him, and so did Angela’s surprised and fearful gasp combined with her frantic “ _no, no, no_ ” that she repeated like a mantra, her hand reaching out to help him but he tore back, shoving her aside, half human and half ghost. All he was thinking about was escaping, maybe if he ran far enough he could get away from this new reality.

Gabriel discovered quickly that he had died and that he had been dead for some time now, weeks, according to the newspaper he had swiped from a stand . So was Jack, that truth leaving a bitter taste in his mouth, but there was also a feeling of relief in his gut over it. Jack was dead, he was gone, he wouldn’t be there to remind Gabriel of his failings anymore or to have his very existence show up him in everything he did again. The perfect boy, perfectly dead.

For the second day, he spent it trying to focus on looking like a person again. His condition horrified him, his flesh was pale and grey, like a cadaver, his eyes a clouded and milky white and were sunken into dark bags around his eyes, and his hair felt like straw. He reasoned that if he could lose form and regain it, even break down inorganic matter such as clothes, he could make himself look like he did when he was alive? Yes?

No. He found that out after hours of trying, and he was becoming exhausted. He hadn’t slept since he first was brought back and the fear of not knowing what could happen overwhelmed him, keeping him up, and when he felt himself listing he snuck to a convenience store that was still open at obscene hours to sneak away a few cans of coffee and cokes. If there was one thing he as appreciating, it was how easy it was to shoplift when you could become an undead vapor. Another thing he was quickly discovering was that he was hungry near constantly, the high caloric and high sugar junk food he was stealing not providing enough in terms of nutrition to hold him, or at least that’s what Gabriel was assuming. Jerky was the only meat he could scrounge around, but even that wasn’t enough and he was all the more horrified when the nanites instead were directing his thoughts to something more _alive_.

A pigeon, harmless, round and oblivious and full of building blocks or organic material that the nanites were craving. They needed energy, this was the kind they wanted, not the kind that was broken down in his stomach and digestive tract. He felt sick and turned away, refusing to allow himself to fall to such a low. Gabriel couldn’t kill a pigeon, it was a bird, it was just standing there doing nothing that would warrant being broken down into some kind of organic slop, easily digestible for trillions of nanites. They refused to relent, sending signals to his brain just as regular cells would, trying to trick his mind into believing that was what he craved and force him to act, but he glowered and moved away from the bird, finding a spot under a bridge to eat his stale bagel and chips. The nanites wilted and he could feel his body ache and become stiff, but he persisted.

On the third day he had found a credit card on a train, took it, and checked into a cheap hotel, making sure his face was covered with a hood and eyes hidden away by sunglasses, so instead of a corpse he at least looked just like a strange, pale man. The man behind the desk had given him a lingering stare and had muttered something in German, but Gabriel didn’t possess the mental energy to process it, so he bidded him a thank you and hurried off into the room.

It was roughly 36 hours since he had first returned to life, whatever this life was, and he wasn’t certain if he could hold out any longer, weary from simply recalling the past days’ events.

Against his better judgement, he collapsed into the bed. It creaked and smelled like dust, the sheets were stiff and unpleasant, and the entire room looked to be trapped 30 years in the past, but he didn’t care. This was the first time he felt like a person in days so he felt like he could allow a moment of peace, curling up into himself, grabbing at the rough blanket and pulling it over his body and head, hiding away. His exhaustion won out and he drifted off the moment he had closed his eyes.

Gabriel jolted awake, ripping the blanket off and heaving himself up so fast it made his head spin. His breaths came hard and fast and he gulped down the stale, cold air, feeling like he was going to suffocate before everything came into focus. He had fallen asleep, but he had woken up, he was alive. Alive. It was fine.

He looked down and noticed a wet spot on the pillow, dark red, blood like oil that fumed softly. Reaching up he touched his face, felt bone instead of flesh, then reached shakily to touch the red glob on the pillow which was already dissolving and traveling to his hand, wet red turning to black smoke reaching back out to him to return from where it came from so that he could grow back his face. It was not fine. He screamed. 

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy I can't wait to have all my headcanons be undone when we learn more about Gabriel and the rest of the OW crew! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ  
> This got spawned from a bit in an unpublished fic of mine that I wanted to expand upon.


End file.
